


Finding the Gift

by rainsonata



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainsonata/pseuds/rainsonata
Summary: Elesis looks for a Christmas present to give to Ara.
Relationships: Ara Haan/Elesis, Crimson Avenger/Asura
Kudos: 3





	Finding the Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Luciel: CH and DL  
> Elsword: IS  
> Aisha: EM  
> Rena: NW  
> Chung: TT  
> Add: DE  
> Eve: CBS  
> Raven: VC

flat and that it created fog on the thick glass. A baker kneads the dough with their nimble hands, pinching the edges and pressing it with their fingers before repeating the process with the next batch. Frosted cookies and chocolate bars lined up along the aisle, shimmering with colored sprinkles and assorted stars that made her mouth water.

She stared at the abundant sweets before snapping out of it and scolded to herself. The Crimson Avenger was led here by Lu and Ciel earlier when she asked them for advice on where to go first (“They make the best cookies here! Maybe even better than Ciel’s!”). Those two have already left the shop long ago after making their purchase, but it was hard for her to take her eyes away when everything looked so delectable.

Elesis checked the clock tower to see that there were only a few hours left before the stores were going to close. It has been weeks since she decided to buy a gifts for the people that have become her family to replace the ones she had lost in Velder. Despite walking around town with that in mind, she still had to think of a gift for the last person on her list.

“Oh, anything would do!” Ara laughed when asked earlier that week. “I’m not sure what I want either!”

Elesis gave a light chuckle at her predicament. The Crimson Avenger could come up with multiple ways to fight an army of demons, but struggled to come up with gift ideas for her girlfriend.

“Sis?”

The red knight jolted back with a startled expression until she saw it was Elsword, who snuck up from behind with Conwell straddled on his back. He had a bag of cookies in his hands and was munching on a star shaped cookie. How long was he standing there?

“I don’t know what to buy,” Elesis said.

“Buy the egg custards.”

“I meant as a gift,” she said with a deadpan expression.

“Oh,” Elsword bit into another cookie and offered her one. “You want?”

She ignored her brother, “What does Ara like?”

He grinned, “Get her a sword! No, get her two swords.” Elsword shouted, “Wait, what if you got her more than that? Why stop at two? How about three-“

“I asked what she likes, not you.” Elesis didn’t let him finish his sentence and smacked him on the head with an audible sigh. Dark El or not, her younger brother was as dumb as ever.

Elsword rubbed his head and whined, “You’re worse than Aisha!”

“Maybe I’ll ask her instead,” Elesis mused. She patted Elsword on the head, “Don’t forget to go home after dark.”

“I’m not a child.”

“You’re still underage.”

“Not according to the army.”

* * *

She found Aisha and Chung standing in front of the bookstore, facing each other in what sounded like a heated debate. The mage had her staff behind her head for support with a bored expression. They didn’t notice her presence when Elesis snuck up from behind to look over their shoulders to see them looking at a set of books propped behind the glass.

“Just pick one,” Aisha’s voice was laced with thin patience.

“I know,” Elesis could barely hear Chung reply back.

“He’s not going to know the difference between edition 3 and 4,” she whined. “You really think he’s going to like it?”

“Who?” Elesis popped in between them.

Aisha and Chung shrieked - well, Chung backed away like a Hamel spider crawled up on his back and clutched his Freiturnier. By reflex, Elesis, drew out her sword and pointed it at the Hamel prince. Before she could go further, Aisha swung her wand and smacked her on the side of her face. Elesis rubbed her cheek and glared at the two.

“S-sorry,” Chung lowered his weapon and gave an awkward laugh when he saw who it was. “Don’t sneak up on us like that!”. He waved his hands at Elesis with an apologetic smile.

Elesis held out her hand to see no blood on it. No wonder her brother dreaded messing with Aisha. The mage hit hard and it felt enough to leave blood if she was more offensive.

“Who’s it for?” Elesis asked again.

“Elsword,” both of them said in union.

“A book?” Elesis was surprised to hear them thinking about buying one for Elsword. It wasn’t that Elsword was stupid, but it was rare to see him show interest in reading when he would rather spend his free time training.

“I lent it to him and he liked it, so I thought getting him a copy would be a good gift,” Aisha explained. “It’s a little expensive, so…”

“How about you, Ms. Elesis?” Chung asked. “I saw you poking your head around the shops for something. The storekeepers asked me if something happened.”

…what?

“They said you looked angry,” the Tactical Trooper said when met with Elesis’ confused reaction. “Like you were out to get something.”

Oh… She touched her face and wondered if it was that hard to read her emotions. Elesis wondered if it should worry her, but that thought was quickly discarded when Aisha interrupted her inner monologue.

“Are you still looking for a gift for Ara?” That’s right, she remembered telling Aisha that this morning when they were leaving the inn to head to the shopping district.

“Yeah,” Elesis looked away. She didn’t want to admit that she spent much of the day accomplishing little.

The Elemental Master beamed, “I know some books that she’ll like.”

“If it’s one of those books from the-”

“It’s something else!” Aisha didn’t let Chung finish that thought. Her face turned pink and turned her head away with anger.

“Ok,” Chung closed his eyes with an expression of…regret? Elesis looked at him for an explanation, but the prince refused to say more.

“I think I’ll keep looking,” Elesis said when she saw their reactions. She pondered on going into the bookstore, but not being much of a reader, she didn’t know what book Ara would like. She thanked the two of them, who were still avoiding each other’s eyes (What was going on?) and left still indecisive on what to buy. 

* * *

Elesis sat on the bench outside with her hands on the table in defeat. What if Ara didn’t like the gift? She already received suggestions from at least half of the group, yet she was hesitant on picking one.

“Still here?”

Elesis shot up from her seat and swung her sword around, aiming for the source of the voice. She looked up to see an albino man with his head sticking out of a portal surrounded by pink crystals with a wide grin on his face. There was a loud crack in the air as he narrowly avoided getting sliced by her sword, popping out another portal on the opposite side of her.

“Your aim is as lousy as ever,” Add giggled at the wild look in her eyes.

“I thought you were too busy crying for mommy to care about Christmas,” Elesis was unphased by his appearance.

“Ow, my poor feelings,” the Diabolic Esper feigned a hurt expression, but the smile gave it away.

She ignored his laughter and went back to looking the shops like he wasn’t there. None of Elgang were exactly sane considering the sacrifices most of them went through, but Add seemed the most affected by it. Even though he was technically invited to their group, he still followed them like a lost cat when no one chased him away. Add seemed to understand and stopped bothering hiding his presence all together. It was like it became his goal to pester them in the most unconventional methods.

Add crawled out of the portal and draped himself over the table with his limbs dangling over. He was wearing that stupid looking plugsuit with only a jacket and a scarf to indicate that he still had a sense of the temperature. His eyes were free from the black sclera, but his eyes landed on Elesis with a sly grin. 

“You wouldn’t be here if you had nothing to do.” He knew she wasn’t the type to stand idle for long.

“Unless you can be of use, then leave,” Elesis said. “What gift should I get for Ara?”

Add laughed, “The elf said people like cute animals for pets.” He looked a little too proud of making that statement like he guessed the correct answer for a test.

The time traveler opened a portal, stuck his hand in, and pulled out a Caskey. The monster bared its numerous sharp teeth and tried to gnaw through his gloves when Add held it by the ankle. Elesis backed away when he showed it to her.

“I think I’ll pass,” she said in a flat tone.

“Aw, I think it likes you.” Add said as the creature continued making noises in a poor attempt to latch its teeth onto him again.

She shook her head at the suggestion, “Don’t you have any other ideas?”

“Why don’t you massacre some demons and use their parts for weapons?” He flashed his sharp teeth at her with a grin.

Elesis paused and smacked her sword on his head, shoving him back into a portal that was opened nearby. The Caskey shrieked and sank its teeth into her leg as she gritted her teeth trying to make the damn thing let go. A couple of threats escaped from her lips before she tossed the monster in the air and threw it back into the portal with Add. She thought she heard Add giggling again before the portal closed with a loud crack. The Crimson Avenger sat on the bench again with her hands on her temple. Was nobody in this army normal?

* * *

“What’s the point in giving gifts?” Eve asked while pulling out holographic slides to look a set of blueprints. She zoomed in onto one of the sections and appeared to be deep in thought when Elesis approached her.

Although Eve wasn’t part of the group that was out in the streets in search for presents, Elesis found her earlier looking at the mechanic shops in town with mild interest. Being a nasod, wearing extra layers wasn’t a necessity and led to uninvited stares by others when the Nasod Queen was dressed more appropriately for another season.

“It’s showing people that you care,” Elesis tried to explain.

“Don’t you already do that every day?” Her expression remained blank, but there was a hint of confusion in Eve’s voice. Was it possible for nasods to be confused?

“Well… It’s like a reminder?” Elesis wasn’t sure how to answer that question. 

“Are humans that forgetful?”

Elesis knew Eve wasn’t trying to be offensive, but she still shook her head at the absurd statement. She wasn’t up for dealing with Eve’s ever neutral reaction to human things. “Never mind,” she shook her head. It would be pointless to ask Eve for gift ideas.

“Who is the gift for?” Elesis caught sight of Raven in her peripheral vision. His deep voice wasn’t hard to recognize. The former Velder knight didn’t have much on him aside from his bag and a few packages in hand.

“Ara,” Elesis said with a soft sigh. Eve looked up from her screen and gave a curt nod to acknowledge Raven’s presence.

Raven replied, “Why don’t you give her something she’ll use?”

Elesis nodded. It would save the hassle of carrying an extra load and it would avoid gathering dust. She wouldn’t have to worry about it ever getting lost if Ara was to use it frequently.

“You’re already done?” Elesis looked at the bags filled with packaged boxes and wrapping. How did he finish so quickly when half of the group was still out and about with their own business?

He shrugged, “It will be enough.”

She wasn’t expected an actual answer from the Veteran Commander, so she accepted it and threw herself on the bench where Eve sat, leaning her head back and closing her eyes for them to rest for a few seconds. There wasn’t much time to make use of Raven’s advice and figure out what to buy. If she didn’t hurry, the shops were going to close soon.

Elesis thanked Eve and Raven and later ran back to the shops, losing her breath by the time she found what she was looking for. A rare smile found its way on her face when the clerk at the front desk wrapped the present for her with the wrapping of her choice. 

* * *

She woke up that morning to see a thin layer of ice and snow piling up outside the inn she roomed in with the rest of the group. It was late morning - almost noon - when Elesis found Ara sitting in the front desk area where the Christmas tree was. The tree had gold ribbons and silver ornaments adorning it, but that wasn’t what Elesis was looking at. Her face grew warm when Ara smiled.

A box of chocolate and a book on mythology sat in collection of wrappers and tissue paper. Elesis held her breath when Ara opened the gift and ran her fingers through the layers of wrapping paper with some difficulty. After getting her fingers stuck with the tape and nearly tearing the Phoru patterned wrapping off, the box was opened and her eyes shone when she saw the gift.

“I love it!” Ara danced around with her gift.

It was a big bow almost as big as her head. With Elesis’ help, the bow was tied to the back of her head with red and white stripes and ornaments of holly and snowflake patterns on it. Elesis thought it was ridiculous, but the bright colors and synthetic beads won her over.

“Open your gift!” The Asura pressed her gift onto her. The box was wrapped in red paper with stars and snowmen patterns with a bow almost as big as the one she wore on top.

Elesis chuckled at Ara’s enthusiasm. It has been a long time since she got to celebrate the holiday with this many people since she was…. She paused at the lingering thought. There was no need to think about a time that hurt her. She pushed that thought away and focused on opening the gift in front of her. 

As she began to unwrap the paper, not caring if she tore it off, the box shook. Elesis frowned. Was she imagining things? She peeled through more layers of the box when a sharp cry rose from the insides. Ara lightly laughed when Elesis looked at her for an explanation.

“Rena told me people love cute animals for pets!” Ara chirped.

When Elesis dug her nails into the box to open it, a monster the size of a basketball popped out of it to lunge its sharp teeth into her arm. She whacked the creature on her arm against the wall and used her sword to push it away from her. It left light teeth marks on her after she pried it off and threw it against the wall.

“Add!” Elesis snarled his name.

“You called?” Add popped his head out of a portal behind them.

Ara squeaked at Add’s sudden appearance and ducked her head when Elesis threw the Caskey at him.

“What was that for?” Add moved the portal away from getting hit.

The monster rolled off and screeched at Elesis as if it was talking to her in disagreement at being tossed around like a ball. It crawled back to Ara to nuzzle its head against her hand. It made a gurgling noise like it was laughing at her when it noticed Elesis leering at it.

Ara held up the Caskey as the monster chirped. “Its name is Nana.”

Elesis stared at her girlfriend in question. Great. She named the stupid thing. 

Nana sniffed Elesis’ hand and showed its teeth at her again. This time, she didn’t flinch and glared, _Go ahead and try again._

Ara gave her a hopeful expression and gestured her hand over Nana’s head. Wait, was she really suggesting her to pet it? Elesis didn’t understand why Ara thought it was a good idea to get this thing as a pet, but she humored her anyway. She dropped her weapon and gingerly placed her hand on its head and petted it. Elesis didn’t miss it when the creature purred.

As she held the Caskey in her hand, she noticed it wore a big bow around its neck and it relaxed when she held it a specific way as the other instructed her to do. Any complaints she had about it disappeared when Ara beamed at what she thought was a picture perfect image of Elesis holding onto it like a small stuffed toy. She could handle a few sharp teeth if it meant making Ara happy. 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.


End file.
